Georgians have seen too many racists and extremist conservatives making decisions for our state. State Rep. Tommy Benton has repeatedly been in the spotlight for his racism, and yet he was appointed to the Civics Committee, a group tasked with “furthering Georgia’s students’ civic literacy.” This position would have allowed Benton, a known KKK defender,… [Read More]

State Rep. Tommy Benton, who made the news last year for defending the KKK and pushing for revisionist Confederate history, will now have a say in civics education in Georgia. Benton was just appointed by Speaker of the House David Ralston to the House Study Committee on Civics Education in Georgia. Benton, along with two of his colleagues… [Read More]

They always say these things come in threes. First, Georgia state Representative Tommy Benton (R-Jefferson) defended the Ku Klux Klan earlier this year, saying that the Klan “wasn’t so much a racist thing” and “made a lot of people straighten up.” Then Sen. Greg Kirk (R-Americus), while debating his bill that would allow religious groups to… [Read More]

Rep. Tommy Benton pulled every single one of his neo-Confederate bills from consideration.

And House Speaker David Ralston finally spoke out on Rep. Benton’s defense of the Ku Klux Klan. Notably, Speaker Ralston said, “the business of the General Assembly isn’t in rewriting or reinterpreting the past, but rather to focus on improving Georgia’s future.”

Over the weekend, Rep. Tommy Benton’s defense of the KKK exploded across national news and put his House colleagues in a spot to either stand with the KKK defender or to cast him aside.

House Ethics Committee Chairman, Rep. Joe Wilkinson, R-Sandy Springs, publicly backed away from the KKK defender leaving no question about where he stands. House Speaker David Ralston is still trying to decide how to respond to one of his committee chairman who is blitzing the media in an attempt to rebrand the Klan.

As state Rep. Tommy Benton’s Republican colleagues begin to distance themselves from his controversial comments about the Ku Klux Klan and slavery, House Speaker David Ralston continues to be silent on the issue.

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston has remained silent as Rep. Tommy Benton bounces from one news outlet to another defending the Ku Klux Klan as “not so much a racist thing” and just a harmless vigilante group that “made a lot of people straighten up.”

While it’s up to voters in Rep. Benton’s Jefferson district whether or not his neo-Confederate views represent them, it’s squarely on Speaker Ralston’s shoulders as to whether Benton’s views are OK with the Georgia GOP and the Georgia House of Representatives.